Devoted dog owners often joke that their pets eat better than they do.
Now it seems that could really be the case after tests showed some brands of dog and cat food contain less fat and salt than fast food and ready meals.
Scientific analysis found that a can of Gourmet Gold - a brand of cat meat - contained 2.9g of fat per 100g, while Cesar dog food contained 4.4g.
This compares to 24.8g of fat per 100g found in a MacDonald's Big Mac and medium fries and 11.7g of fat found in 100g of Waitrose's chicken korma.
Levels of salt and sugar in pet food were also found to be lower, although the convenience food did contain more fibre.
The findings will again raise concerns about the amount of unhealthy ingredients in ready meals and fast foods.
The Food Standards Agency has launched a traffic light scheme of food packaging to show the amounts of salt, sugar and fat - with a red warning indicating high levels.
John Searle, the scientist who carried out the pet food analysis said: "The cat and dog foods that we analysed would be categorised in the green or amber levels while some convenience foods aimed at humans would fall in the red, or unhealthy category.
"It would not do a human any harm to eat this cat and dog food.
Under European Union law, all pet food must be fit for human consumption.